Face mask for divers



1964 G. BEUCHAT 3,143,739

FACE MASK FOR DIVERS Filed April 17, 1962 3 INVENTOR Gsaeas BEUCH/PT fir rokwsys.

United States Patent 3,143,739 FACE MASK FOR DIVERS George Benchat, Marseille, France, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Sports Industries, Inc, Los Angeles, Calif, a corporation of California Filed Apr. 17, 1962, Ser. No. 188,138 2 Claims. (Cl. 2-14) This invention relates to a face mask for use by skin divers.

Face masks worn by free divers are designed to fit at the front of the divers head from his upper lip to his forehead and generally between the temples. The divers nose is encompassed as Well as his eyes, whereby both are isolated from the ambient Water. His mouth is beyond the mask, whereby it may receive the mouthpiece of underwater breathing apparatus.

The mask is, of course, intended to seal about the users face; but perfect seals have not yet been devised despite numerous attempts. Water slowly seeps into the mask.

In order to purge water from the mask, a certain technique has been used in the past: The diver turns his head up so that the face plate of the mask is uppermost and the edges of the mask lowermost. The diver then exhales through his nose until the excess pressure forces the water past the mask edges.

Since the object, generally, is to provide a tight-fitting mask to avoid leakage, then, by the same token, considerable elfort may be required to crack the seal when water is to be purged. To solve this problem, it has been suggested to attach a rather delicate, nonreturn exhale valve to the mask. It has further been proposed to do this by attaching a flexible disk to the face plate that normally covers an exhaust port therein. This arrangement has functioned satisfactorily from the standpoint of purging water; however, there are disadvantages. The valve itself obscures vision. Also, two adjacent holes must be drilled in the face plate, one to mount the valve member, and the other to serve as the controlled port. This creates a line of weakness between the holes that subjects the face plate to possible fracture.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved face mask of this character that is free of the foregoing difliculties, and that is simple to manufacture.

This invention possesses many other advantages, and has other objects which may be made more clearly apparent from a consideration of several embodiments of the invention. For this purpose, there are shown a few forms in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the present specification, and which drawings, unless as otherwise indicated, are true scale. These forms will now be described in detail, illustrating the general principles of the invention; but it is to be understood that this detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a pictorial view of a face mask incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view thereof, part of the valve member being broken away;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along a plane corresponding to line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to FIG. 3 but illustrating a modified form of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a face mask is shown that includes a molded body generally tubular in form. The mask body 10 is made of flexible rubber or equivalent elastomeric material. At one end of the body, sealing edges 11 are formed for engagement about the eyes and nose of the diver.

A strap 12 extends from side to side of the mask body 10 and serves suitably to maintain the sealing edges in engagement with the divers face. Lugs 13 integrally formed on the body mount buckles 14 cooperable with loops formed in the ends of the strap 12.

At the other end of the mask body 10, an enlarged oval flange 15 is provided. This flange has an inwardly facing continuous groove 16 forming a seat in which the edges of an oval face plate 17 are received and thereby sealed.

At the bottom of the face plate 17 is an exhaust port 18 by the aid of which water may be purged from the mask. The flange 15 of the mask body has an integrally formed, upwardly extending flexible flap or valve member 19 that overlies and normally seals the exhaust port 18.

The valve member or flap 16, as shown in FIG. 2, is generally circular in configuration, with an axis aligned with the port 18. The lower portion of the flap joins the remainder of the flange 15, and the upper portion of the flap 16 has free edges extending throughout an arc of approximately 260 or 270. The free edges of the flap valve 16 form an extension of the flange to seal an area of the face plate that includes the exhaust opening 18. The flap 16 is so formed that its edges normally engage the face plate with a predetermined slight force.

In order to open the exhaust port 18, it is merely necessary to create a predetermined excess pressure on the inside of the face mask 10. The valve member 16 is readily opened because only its free edges contact the face plate 17; thus, that area of the valve member opposed to the face plate 17 is concave in order freely to allow communication with the interior of the face mask body 10 via the port 18. The force tending to flex the valve member 16 outwardly acts over a substantial area, and the force is readily provided.

In the form illustrated in FIG. 4, a separate valve flap 20 is provided that fits in an enlargement 21 at the base of the face plate retaining groove 16. Thus, the valve member 20 has a generally U-shaped base portion 22, the bight of which falls beneath the edge of the face plate 17. One arm of the base extends upwardly along the inner surface of the face plate 17, and the other arm extends upwardly along the exterior of the plate, the operative portion of the valve member forming a continuation of the outer arm.

The inventor claims:

1. A face mask for divers having a hollow mask body having openings at opposite ends, said mask body having a flange extending entirely about one of the openings; said flange having an endless groove accessible interiorly of the corresponding opening; a face plate accommodated in said opening and having peripheral edges seated in said groove; said face plate having a top and a bottom; there being a single exhaust opening in said face plate and adjacent the bottom thereof immediately above said flange; and a flexible valve member having a base attached to said flange, said valve member extending upwardly over the exterior of said face plate normally to cover said exhaust opening, said valve member having free edges extending from the base on one side of the valve member upwardly about the exhaust opening and thence downwardly to the base on the opposite side of the valve member; said valve member having an interior surface exposed via the exhaust opening to the interior of the mask, and an exterior surface adapted to be exposed to the ambient fluid; said valve member flexing about its base in response to a preponderance of fluid pressure on its inner surface to open said exhaust opening to the ambient fluid.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said valve member is generally circularly formed; said valve member having a concave surface opposed to said face plate whereby a space between the face plate and the valve member is provided that is in communication with the interior of the mask viasaid exhaust opening; the -1ine clamped between ;the edge of said face plate and'the bottom of the groove ofrsaidfiange.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Page Feb. 13, 1962 Dym Feb. 15, 1938 Young et a1 June 19, 1945 Rebikolf Dec. 29, 1959 Coanda July 3, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS France Nov. 14, 1960 

1. A FACE MASK FOR DIVERS HAVING A HOLLOW MASK BODY HAVING OPENINGS AT OPPOSITE ENDS, SAID MASK BODY HAVING A FLANGE EXTENDING ENTIRELY ABOUT ONE OF THE OPENINGS; SAID FLANGE HAVING AN ENDLESS GROOVE ACCESSIBLE INTERIORLY OF THE CORRESPONDING OPENING; A FACE PLATE ACCOMMODATED IN SAID OPENING AND HAVING PERIPHERAL EDGES SEATED IN SAID GROOVE; SAID FACE PLATE HAVING A TOP AND A BOTTOM; THERE BEING A SINGLE EXHAUST OPENING IN SAID FACE PLATE AND ADJACENT THE BOTTOM THEREOF IMMEDIATELY ABOVE SAID FLANGE; AND A FLEXIBLE VALVE MEMBER HAVING A BASE ATTACHED TO SAID FLANGE, SAID VALVE MEMBER EXTENDING UPWARDLY OVER THE EXTERIOR OF SAID FACE PLATE NORMALLY TO COVER SAID EXHAUST OPENING, SAID VALVE MEMBER HAVING FREE EDGES EXTENDING FROM THE BASE ON ONE SIDE OF THE VALVE MEMBER UPWARDLY ABOUT THE EXHAUST OPENING AND THENCE DOWNWARDLY TO THE BASE ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE VALVE MEMBER; SAID VALVE MEMBER HAVING AN INTERIOR SURFACE EXPOSED VIA THE EXHAUST OPENING TO THE INTERIOR OF THE MASK, AND AN EXTERIOR SURFACE ADAPTED TO BE EXPOSED TO THE AMBIENT FLUID; SAID VALVE MEMBER FLEXING ABOUT ITS BASE IN RESPONSE TO A PREPONDERANCE OF FLUID PRESSURE ON ITS INNER SURFACE TO OPEN SAID EXHAUST OPENING TO THE AMBIENT FLUID. 